Russian Torpedo Boat No. 212 was built at the Chricton yards in St. Petersburg. Her keel was laid in February 1900, launched in autumn of 1901 and commissioned October 1902. She had a displacement of 186 tons and measured 171ft 9in long, with a
beam of 17ft 3in and draft of 4ft 10in (52.4m x 5.3m x 1.5m). She and her sister No. 213 were the largest of the torpedo boats in the Imperial Russian Navy at the time of the Russo-Japanese War. She was armed with 3 1-pounder guns and a pair of 15-in
torpedo tubes. No. 212 had three funnels with four Yarrow boilers powering two shafts for a top speed of 24 knots.

Torpedo Boat No. 212 was intended for service in the Far East. She was part of the reinforcing fleet sent out in the autumn of 1903 under the command of Rear Admiral A.A Virenjus. At the time Russo-Japanese War broke out, No. 212 was in the Red
Sea as part of the squadron accompanying Virenjus’s flagship, the battleship Oslyabya. However, on February 18, 1904, Virenjus was ordered to return his fleet to Russia. After passing through the Suez Canal and entering the Mediterranean Sea. No. 212
and her sister. No. 213, set course for Greece and remained there for the duration of the war. In 1914 both No. 212 and No. 213 were converted to minesweepers and later used as dispatch vessels. In 1918 No. 212 was captured by Finnish nationalists
during the Finnish Civil War. She was returned to the Soviets in 1922 in accordance to the Tartu peace treaty of 1920 and scrapped soon afterwards.

Combrig’s kit of No. 212 is a new addition to their series of Imperial Russian Navy torpedo boats in 1/350 scale. The kit is very complete with well-cast resin and photo-etch parts. As this is a relatively simple boat the parts count is rather low. The model
comes as a two-part hull giving you the option of either a waterline or full hull model. The upper hull casting is overall well done. There is a good amount of detail cast into it, such as mooring bitts, hatches, skylights and portholes. The conning tower with
surrounding splinter shields and the forward two funnels with a housing in between are also cast into the upper hull part. There are recesses in the hull to fit the third funnel, gun mounts, cowl vents and other small details. The bottom hull is also well done
and requires some clean up along the edges to remove some excess resin.
The remaining resin parts all come on casting runners. One runner has the third funnel, three cowl vents in slightly different sizes and pair of boats. Another runner has four different small deck housings which are not used with this kit but instead with the
dispatch vessel version of the kit, which is technically sold separately. A third runner has the torpedo tubes, a collapsible boat and a small deck structure which may be some kind of storage locker. The remaining two runners have the boat davits, parts for
the 1-pounder guns, binnacle, cable reel insert and some other small parts. Again, there are some parts on these runners that are not to be used for this specific model so take a close look at the instructions. Overall, the casting of these small parts is very
clean.

The photo-etch provided with this kit provides railings and various fittings and structural parts. The rudder, propeller shaft struts and individual propeller blades are provided for those who wish to build a full hull model. Other parts include various deck
platforms, anchors, ship’s wheels, running lights, shoulder supports for the guns, hand-wheels for the torpedo tubes, gun shields and the cable reel among a slew of smaller. Again, there are parts included on the photo-etch sheet that are meant to be used
with the dispatch vessel version and are to be omitted for this model. The railings come with individual stanchion ends, which I find a little harder to work with. The brass has a minimal amount of relief etching but it serves its purpose.

The kit instructions are a little lacking in my opinion as you get only one two-sided sheet. The first page has a basic profile and plan drawing, the ship’s specifications and images of the resin parts and photo-etch fret with the parts having numbers to help
identify them. This addition is helpful, especially when you get extra parts not to be used with building the torpedo boat version. The other side has two fairly clear assembly diagrams showing the placement of the resin and photo-etch parts as well as
detail insets showing sub-assemblies and templates and dimensions provided for parts to be made with rod. Missing is a final view of the fully assembled model which has been included with other Combrig kits. Some basic painting instructions would also
be helpful.
Overall, this is a good kit and it is a nice addition to the Combrig line of Imperial Russian ships of that era. Strangely you also get the parts to build the dispatch vessel version and you could download that kit’s instructions from the Combrig website. Due
to the minimal parts count and somewhat basic photo-etch, this may be a good choice for a first resin ship model kit. The individual railing stanchions could be a pain to work with. You can purchase this kit from Free Time Hobbies, which is the sole
source for Combrig kits in the United States. My thanks to Combrig Models for the review sample.

Felix Bustelo
New York
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